With U.S. mobile internet penetration rates rising every year, it comes as no surprise that almost 50 percent of total website traffic in the United States originated from mobile devices. During the second quarter of 2022, website traffic via mobile devices appeared to be experiencing an upturn, reaching the rate it experienced at the beginning of 2020 – when the country experienced its first COVID outbreak.
Mobile usage trends in the United States
According to recent data, U.S. adults spend an average of 263 minutes per day on mobile non-voice activities in 2021, highlighting that smartphones and other portable devices are no longer primarily used to conduct phone calls but to access the internet.Another visible trend in mobile user behavior is the preference for in-app experiences: mobile apps amassed more than four hours of daily engagement from U.S. users in 2021, up by 27 percent compared to 2019. Among the millions of apps available in the Google Play and Apple App Store, internet browsers, e-mail services, and social media apps are among the most popular app categories in the United States. Accordingly, YouTube, Gmail, and Facebook remained among the leading smartphone apps based on mobile audience reach.
What are the most popular mobile activities in the United States?
In addition to audio entertainment, video games, and news consumption, social media is one of the most popular online activities among U.S. mobile users. Across the globe, social networks, messaging apps, and photo and video-sharing platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are among the leading drivers of mobile engagement. In 2022, some 270 million users in the United States accessed social media, with Snapchat and Instagram recording the highest daily open rate in the second quarter of 2022.The rapid uptick in smartphone and tablet usage is also transforming online media consumption: in North America, mobile devices have become the most-used streaming devices for online video content, surpassing Smart TVs and laptops. U.S. consumers are also shopping and paying with their mobile devices more than ever, thanks to the abundance of shopping apps and mobile banking services. In the second quarter of 2022, the average value of mobile shopping orders amounted to 112.29 U.S. dollars, up from the 101.3 U.S. dollars consumers spent on average per order during the previous year.